VietNamNet Bridge – The merger of the Southern Bank with the Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial JS Bank (Sacombank) was approved Monday at the shareholders’ meeting of Southern Bank.

At the meeting, Southern Bank chair Mach Thieu Duc said the merger process was 90% complete. The merger plan had been ratified by the Inspection Department of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and is awaiting the final step – the SBV Governor’s approval. It is expected that the final step will be finalized in the second quarter this year, to complete the merger.

Tram Be, senior adviser of Southern Bank and Vice Chair of Sacombank, said that the merger ratio between SouthernBank/Sacombank is 1:0.75.

Tram Be added that the merger will help Sacombank expand its network and personnel, with an increase of more than 4,000 personnel who had been trained. Meanwhile, owning Sacombank shares is considered a benefit for shareholders of Southern Bank.

By the end of 2014, Southern Bank's bad loans were more than VND2.5 trillion, accounting for 5.89% of total outstanding loans. Particularly, the bad debt sold to the Vietnam Assets Management Corporation (VAMC) was VND619 billion. Its total assets reached more than VND82 trillion. Pre-tax profit was more than VND17 billion, down 5% compared to 2013.

S. Nam